• The average annual surface air temperature anomaly over land north of 60° N for October 2017-September 2018 was the second highest (after 2015-2016) in the observational record beginning in 1900. Arctic temperatures for the past five years (2014-2018) all exceed previous records.
• Arctic air temperature continues to increase at double the rate of the global mean air temperature increase.
• Autumn, winter and spring months all contributed positive anomalies to the annual average temperature. These conditions were supported by advection of heat and moisture from the subarctic by north-south wavy jet stream patterns.
• During summer, neutral temperature anomalies occurred across the central Arctic Ocean with a low pressure pattern. Like summer 2016 and 2017, 2018 weather conditions did not support rapid summer sea ice and ice sheet loss
